Berrick Barnes will miss a high profile match-up against fellow Wallabies star James O’Connor after the NSW Waratahs’ injury woes took another twist.
Tipped to return, injury-prone Barnes pulled up sore on Tuesday following a Monday fitness test and was ruled out of the Super Rugby match with O’Connor’s Melbourne Rebels at AAMI Park on Friday night due to a groin injury.
Barnes had been expected to play at inside centre in a fascinating duel with O’Connor, but his unavailability allows a reprieve for tough-tackling Tom Carter after his mixed performance in Saturday’s last-gasp loss to the Queensland Reds.
The loss of Barnes’ playmaking and direction is another blow for the Tahs, already without captain Rocky Elsom and Wallabies wingers Drew Mitchell and Lachlan Turner.
“It’s frustrating really … I didn’t think it was going to be an issue this week but after running yesterday (Monday) and being put through a bit of a fitness test it just hasn’t pulled up as well as myself and the medical staff more importantly wanted,” Barnes said.
Barnes said the Waratahs faced a tough ask stopping Rebels glamour recruit O’Connor, who is likely to combine in attack with five eighth Danny Cipriani and former Tahs fullback Kurtley Beale, but he backed his team-mates to get the job done.
“Defensively … if you don’t come one out against him it eliminates his ability to use footwork on people and get offloads away which he craves,” Barnes said.
“He’s a hard man to stop and I suppose we’ve got to nullify them first up front first to limit the amount of opportunities he gets to use his feet and that sort of thing but it’s a hard task.
“They (the Rebels) pose a lot threats but once again our pack will definitely be up for it and our backs did pretty well against the Reds last week and I expect them to do the same again.”
Coach Michael Foley hesitated to declare Barnes a certain starter for next week’s clash with the Highlanders in Dunedin.
“He came close last week and trained really hard yesterday and we thought he’d ticked all of the boxes but when he came in this morning he was a little bit sore,” Foley said.
“The brief to the medical staff was that if there was any doubt what so ever then we were to rule him out.
“I’m loathe to say he’ll be right for Highlanders (next week) but I believe he will be.”
While disappointed with the 25-21 loss on the siren to Queensland, Foley said there was plenty of good things about the performance, particularly from the Waratahs forwards.
“We had a Wallaby frontrow out there, their preparation’s been limited for different reasons but they all jumped into it pretty well … they were very ably supported by the back five too,” he said.
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